Community Blog

February 28, 2017 |
Cocktails, Cocktails from the South |
Eddie Garraway

1885 Chatham Artillery Punch

Ingredients:

Lemon oleo-sacchrum

1 pint fresh lemon juice

1 750ml bottle VSOP cognac

1 750ml bottle bourbon whiskey

1 750ml Jamaican style amber rum

Directions:

To make an oleo-saccharum, peel the zest of 12 lemons, getting as little pith as possible. Firmly muddle the peels in a sturdy bowl with 2 cups of light raw sugar. Cover and leave the mixture to sit in a warm place for about an hour. Muddle the mixture again, and it’s ready to use.

Mix oleo-sacchrum with 1 pint of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Stir and strain into an empty 750 ml bottle. Add water to fill any remaining space in the bottle, seal and refrigerate. To serve, fill a two-and-ahalf gallon punch bowl with ice and pour in the bottled oleo-sacchrum. Add the bottles of cognac, bourbon, and Jamaican-style rum. Top off with three bottles of chilled brut champagne. Stir. If a sweeter style of punch is desired then pineapple, orange or peach slices can be added to add more fruit flavours.

Recipe adapted from David Wondrich book Punches

Oleo saccharum, translates to sugar oil, is a technique based on sugar’s ability to extract moisture. “Oleo saccharum is the process of extracting oil from citrus peel using sugar and allowing the sugar to pull out the oils and flavours. Any citrus fruit peel can be used.